The invention relates to the field of infrared (IR) inspection of turbine components, such as turbine blades, turbine vanes, and other turbine items of the like having internal passages for cooling or other liquid/gas flow. More specifically, the invention relates to computerized assistance provided to an operator on operating an IR inspection system to inspect turbine components.
Failure of a turbine component, such as a blade or a vane is costly, and may even be catastrophic. Accordingly, manufacturing a turbine component involves precision casting and machining processes, as each of these processes may introduce variables that affect the quality of the component, and in turn, its performance and reliability.
During the casting process, variables such as core misalignment, inclusions, and the like, can introduce casting defects into the components. Often times, these casting defects in turn may affect the machining process, resulting in machining defects, as well.
For example, a turbine component may include features such as passages, cooling channels and holes. Cooling channels are internal features of the component through which coolants (e.g. in the form of gases) may flow. Because of the internal nature of the cooling channels, cooling channels are, often times, formed during the casting process utilizing casting cores. Defects, such as core misalignments may result in incorrectly formed, sized or blocked cooling channels.
The cooling holes allow the coolant flowing through the component to be exhausted out of the component. The dimension of the cooling holes may be in the range of 10ths of millimeters. Because of the small dimension of the cooling holes, often times, the cooling holes are machined into the component after the casting process. In order to control the precision of machining the cooling holes, an automated process may be utilized for the physical drilling of the holes, such as computerized numerically controlled (CNC) machine.
Drilling the cooling holes by CNC machine involves the CNC machine determining the exact position of the cooling holes in three-dimensional space, accounting for dimensional tolerances. If casting defects, such as core misalignments, affect the dimensions of the component to the extent that the dimensional tolerances are exceeded, the cooling holes may not be drilled properly.
Recently, inspection methods involving thermal signatures of materials, in particular, infrared (IR) detection imaging, are being utilized to inspect and detect defects in the manufacturing of turbine components. A turbine component inspection method utilizing IR imaging involves applying differential thermal stimuli to the turbine components. Often times, applying differential thermal stimuli involves delivering a first thermal stimulus, such as a gas, at a high temperature to the component, and then, following the high temperature thermal stimulus, delivering a second thermal stimulus, such as the gas, at a cold temperature (i.e., cold, relative to the high temperature thermal stimulus) to the turbine component. An example of an IR inspection apparatus may be found in co-pending U.S. Provisional Pat. Application No. 60/339,725, titled AN IMPROVED TURBINE COMPONENT INSPECTION SYSTEM, filed on Nov. 1, 2001, and having at least partial common inventorship with the present application. The application is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
To ensure the high precision turbine components are inspected properly, the inspection itself, including e.g. the application of the thermal stimulus, is preferably performed with great precision each time, with the inspection system properly calibrated. Moreover, minimal to virtually no judgment should be required of the operators, to avoid human error. Prior known systems all suffer from varying degrees of not able to ensure consistent application of thermal stimuli to inspections of different turbine components or different inspections of the same turbine component. Moreover, too often, too much operator judgment is required in determining whether a turbine component passed or failed an inspection. Thus, a computer assisted method, including a user friendly operator interface, to assist an operator in using such IR inspection system properly to inspect turbine components, without at least some of the prior art shortcomings, is desired.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of system checks on a turbine component inspection system are monitored, and an end user interface element to cause an inspection of a turbine component to commence is enabled only upon determining, based on the monitored system checks, that the inspection system is in a predetermined state of readiness, thereby ensuring each turbine component inspected is stimulated with thermal stimuli having substantially the same characteristics, such as temperature, pressure, and so forth.
Further, in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a binary passed or failed indicator is displayed to unequivocally inform the operator whether a turbine component being inspected passed or failed the inspection. In one embodiment, machine check in addition to binary passed or failed may also be indicated.
In a preferred embodiment, thermal images of a turbine component""s response to applied thermal stimuli, as well as status of automatically launched quantitative analyses of the turbine component""s response to the applied thermal stimuli are also displayed.
In one embodiment, entry of an identifier, as well as inspection comments for each turbine component inspected are also facilitated. Further, affirmative indications by an operator on the completion of inspection of a turbine component as well as for a batch of turbine components are facilitated.
In one embodiment, a computing apparatus is equipped with executable instructions to assist an operator in systematically completing the operations in the desired order, and controlled manner. The executable instructions include provision of an user interface having user interface elements and supported logic to correspondingly guide the operator through the operations in the desired order, and controlled manner.